Former Apple design chief Jony Ive is still working with Apple, he confirmed today in an interview with Vogue's Anna Wintour at the RE:WIRED event. Ive participated in a panel called "Designing for the Future We Want to Inhabit," where he spoke on topics like Steve Jobs, wearables, and LoveFrom.
Ive confirmed that his LoveFrom design company is working with Apple, but he did not provide details on what specific projects he has done for the Cupertino company, nor did he outline if he has been involved with the development of new devices.
In addition to working with Apple, Ive's company has done work for Airbnb, Emerson Collective, Moncler, and Ferrari, among others.
Ive also spoke on the future of wearables, and he said that he expects wearable technology to continue to advance to the point where some devices are embedded in the body. "There's no doubt... that some of these products will disappear beneath our skin," he said. "I can't think of anything more personal, more specific, more individual, and more intimate than things being inside us."
Ive said that the iPod was, essentially, Apple's first piece of wearable technology, in a discussion about the recent 20th anniversary of the device. "I think what the iPod really marked was the beginning of creating far more specific products and devices," he said.
Steve Jobs often comes up in Ive's interviews, and today's panel was no exception. Ive said that he remembers Jobs for his drive and his values. "There was this relish, this celebration of being surprised," said Ive. "Even if the surprise actually meant that he was wrong. He was far more interested in the learning than in being right."
According to Ive, some of his memories of his most productive times with Jobs were when the two were just walking together and thinking close to one another. "Almost always, in my experience, the most powerful ideas occur quietly, and they are fragile," he said.
Apple today updated its iPhone trade-in site, dropping the maximum trade-in prices of almost all of its trade-in options. Trading in the iPhone 12 Pro Max, for example, will now net you $700, $90 less than it was worth yesterday.
With Apple's trade-in program, customers can send in their old devices and receive an Apple gift card that can be put toward the purchase of a new device. Apple regularly adjusts trade-in pricing, and the new amounts for iPhones are listed below.
iPhone 12 Pro Max - Up to $700, down from $790
iPhone 12 Pro - Up to $600, down from $640
iPhone 12 - Up to $450, down from $530
iPhone 12 mini - Up to $350, down from $400
iPhone SE (2nd generation) - Up to $160, down from $170
iPhone 11 Pro Max - Up to $450, down from $500
iPhone 11 Pro - Up to $400, down from $450
iPhone 11 - Up to $300, down from $340
iPhone XS Max - Up to $280, down from $320
iPhone XS - Up to $220, down from $240
iPhone XR - Up to $200, down from $230
iPhone X - Up to $200 (no change)
iPhone 8 Plus - Up to $160, down from $180
iPhone 8 - Up to $100, down from $110
iPhone 7 Plus - Up to $100, down from $110
iPhone 7 - Up to $40, down from $50
iPhone 6s Plus - Up to $50, down from $60
iPhone 6s - Up to $30 (no change)
Apple has also dropped trade-in prices for tablets and computers. For tablets, customers can now receive up to $550, down from a previous $580 maximum. For computers, Apple is offering up to $2720, down from $3240. Maximum trade-in prices have not changed from the Apple Watch and users can still receive up to $270.
The trade-in prices listed in this article are Apple's maximums for each product and represent the amount you'll receive for a device in perfect condition. Trade-in prices drop based on device condition.
Apple offers trade-ins for both Apple devices and devices from other companies such as Samsung, and prices vary based on the original cost of the device, the device's age, the device's condition, and other factors. It's worth noting that most people will be able to find better trade-in deals elsewhere, with the best prices available from selling devices directly to another person using a site like eBay or Swappa.
With the iOS 15.2 beta that was released today, Apple has added enhancements to the Find My app. There's a new feature that's designed to let users scan for AirTags or Find My-enabled items that might be tracking them.
When opening the Find My app after installing the beta and going to the "Items" tab, there's an option for "Items That Can Track Me." Tapping on this allows users to search for nearby items that might be used to track their location.
When activated, the Unknown Items feature scans for anything that's nearby, and will let users know either way if there's a device that belongs to someone else nearby. If an item is detected, Apple offers instructions on how to disable the device so that it can no longer be used for tracking purposes.
Apple also has a "Help Return Lost Items" option, which is the same as the prior "Identify Found Item." The Help Return Lost Items feature launches a scan that locates nearby devices and provides instructions on how to contact the device's owner, with instructions personalized based on the device in question.
AirTags and items with Find My integration are meant to allow users to track their lost devices, but there have been concerns that AirTags can be planted on people for stalking purposes. To prevent stalking with AirTags and other devices, Apple has implemented several safety measures.
AirTags are designed to start playing a sound between eight and 24 hours after being separated from their owner, and iPhone users are alerted if an AirTag is traveling with them. Apple is working on an Android app that will let Android users detect an unknown AirTag or Find My network-enabled item to prevent AirTags from being used to stalk Android users.
Belkin today began a new sale for "Singles Day," which is an international shopping holiday similar in spirit to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, held annually on November 11. Belkin's sale takes 20 percent off sitewide with code SINGLE21 through the 11th.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Belkin. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Belkin is known for its wide range of charging accessories that are compatible with Apple products like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. The coupon code works on products like cables, MagSafe-compatible accessories, charging bricks, docks, speakers, adapters, and more.
Following the launch of the iPhone 13 models, iFixit and other independent repair outlets found that replacing the iPhone's display renders Face ID non-functional, limiting repairs to Apple itself, Apple Authorized Service Providers, and Apple-associated repair shops. The change made it much more difficult for smaller, independent repair shops to perform iPhone 13 display repairs on broken devices.
Image via iFixit
Given the blowback from repair providers unhappy with the restriction, Apple has decided to change its policy. Apple told The Verge that it plans to introduce a software update that will allow for standard display repairs that do not disable Face ID.
With the iPhone 13 models, Apple added a small microcontroller that pairs the iPhone 13 to its display. When performing a display repair, this microcontroller must be paired to the new display using Apple's tools, which independent repair shops do not have access to. Without this pairing process, swapping an iPhone 13 display with a new display results in an error message that says "Unable to activate Face ID on this iPhone."
Repair shops without access to Apple's pairing tools could take the microcontroller from the original display and add it to a new display, but it's a finicky process that requires soldering and a microscope to perform.
The software update that Apple plans to implement will remove the restriction that requires the microcontroller to be transferred to a new display when a repair is made, so independent shops will once again be able to repair screens without impacting the functionality of Face ID.
There is no word yet on when Apple will add the software update to simplify iPhone display repairs for independent repair providers, but iOS 15.2 is in beta testing at the current time and the feature could be introduced in that update.
When iOS 15 was first introduced in June, Apple outlined a new Digital Legacy feature that's designed to let you set a person as your Legacy Contact, giving the person access to your Apple ID account and personal information in the event of your death.
Apple did not include Legacy Contact in the iOS 15 launch as the feature was not ready, but it is available in the iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 betas that were released today.
The Legacy Contact option can be accessed by opening up the Settings app, tap on your profile picture and then select "Password & Security." From there, choose "Legacy Contact" from the list and you can select a trusted person to access your account after you pass away.
The person will have access to your data, and the contact will need to provide an access key and a copy of a death certificate to use your Apple ID account. The feature is designed to give your loved ones access to your photos, videos, notes, documents, and other personal information.
iCloud+ subscribers who use Hide My Email can do so directly from the Mail app after installing the iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, and macOS Monterey 12.1 betas that came out today.
The feature update is outlined in Apple's release notes for the beta, and it should make Hide My Email much more convenient to use on Apple devices. For those unfamiliar with Hide My Email, it is an iOS 15 and macOS Monterey feature available to anyone with a paid iCloud+ plan (priced starting at $0.99 per month).
Hide My Email allows users to create unique, random email addresses that forward to a personal inbox. It's similar to a password manager for email addresses, with users able to generate random email addresses for each website or login.
All the emails sent to the random Apple-created email address are forwarded to you so you can respond if needed, but the person on the receiving end does not see your real email address. And if you start getting spam emails from someone, you can just delete the email address and put a stop to it.
Hide My Email was previously available from the iCloud Settings on Apple devices, but now it can also be accessed directly in the Mail app. In the Mail app when composing an email, click on the "From" field to see the option to generate a "Hide My Email" email address. Selecting this feature will generate a random email address, effectively concealing your true email address.
Netflix today announced the launch of Netflix Games for iOS, one week after rolling out the feature on Android devices. Netflix Games, included with a Netflix subscription, allows users to play a handful of games on their mobile devices.
Available gaming titles include "Stranger Things: 1984," "Stranger Things 3: The Game," "Shooting Hoops," "Card Blast," and "Teeter Up."
Accessing games on Netflix requires a Netflix subscription, and there are no ads, additional fees, or in-app purchases, which is how Apple's gaming service, Apple Arcade, operates. Netflix is releasing each game as an individual app on the App Store while allowing users to see the full catalog of games in the Netflix app, which is well within Apple's App Store rules for gaming subscription services.
Netflix Games is coming to iOS! Starting tomorrow, you can access Netflix Games through the Netflix app on any mobile device, anywhere in the world. pic.twitter.com/LoHYFi4xBX
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) November 9, 2021
With this method, Apple is able to individually approve each of the games that Netflix submits to the App Store. Games will appear on the Home screen of an iOS device and within the Netflix mobile app, and will require authentication with Netflix to play.
As noted by Bloomberg, the games that Netflix have introduced include an option to subscribe to Netflix using an in-app purchase. With this method, Apple receives a 30 percent cut of the money that Netflix collects from subscribers (after a year, Apple's cut drops to 15 percent).
The main Netflix app has not offered an in-app purchase subscription option for several years now to allow Netflix to avoid paying Apple's fees. With each game, Netflix asks users to sign in with an existing account or sign up for a new account, and the sign-up process uses the in-app purchase system. A standard plan is priced at $13.99 per month through the game apps, which is the same price as the plan when signing up on the web.
Netflix Games are available individually on the iOS App Store at this time, and starting tomorrow, the games will be listed in the Netflix app. As with the Android rollout, iPhone and iPad users will see a dedicated games row where they can select games to access.
Apple over the summer announced new Child Safety features that are aimed at keeping children safer online. Apple has confirmed that one of those features, Communication Safety in Messages, has been enabled in the second beta of iOS 15.2 that was released today, after hints of it appeared in the first beta. Note that Communication Safety is not the same as the controversial anti-CSAM feature that Apple plans to implement in the future after revisions.
Communication Safety is a Family Sharing feature that can be enabled by parents, and it is opt-in rather than activated by default. When turned on, the Messages app is able to detect nudity in images that are sent or received by children. If a child receives or attempts to send a photo with nudity, the image will be blurred and the child will be warned about the content, told it's okay not to view the photo, and offered resources to contact someone they trust for help.
When Communication Safety was first announced, Apple said that parents of children under the age of 13 had the option to receive a notification if the child viewed a nude image in Messages, but after receiving feedback, Apple has removed this feature. Apple now says that no notifications are sent to parents.
Apple removed the notification option because it was suggested that parental notification could pose a risk for a child in a situation where there is parental violence or abuse. For all children, including those under the age of 13, Apple will instead offer guidance on getting help from a trusted adult in a situation where nude photos are involved.
Checking for nudity in photos is done on-device, with Messages analyzing image attachments. The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption of messages, and no indication of the detection of nudity leaves the device. Apple has no access to the Messages.
In addition to introducing Communication Safety, Apple later this year plans to expand Siri and Search with resources that will help children and parents avoid unsafe situations online. Users who ask Siri how to report child exploitation, for example, will receive information on how to file a report.
If an Apple device user performs a search related to child exploitation, Siri and Search will explain that interest in the topic is harmful, providing resources for users to get help with the issue.
Apple in September promised to overhaul Communication Safety after hearing feedback from customers, advocacy groups, and researchers before implementing the feature, which is where the changes introduced today stem from.
Communication Safety is available in a beta capacity at the current time, and there's no word yet on when iOS 15.2 will see an official release. We're only at the second beta, so it still may be some time before launch.
iOS and iPadOS 15.2 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or an iPad.
iOS and iPadOS 15.2 add support for App Privacy Report, a feature that Apple first highlighted back at WWDC. With App Privacy Report, you can see how often apps are accessing sensitive info granted to them through privacy permissions, such as location, camera, microphone, and contacts.
The feature also gives you details on the various domains that apps and websites are contacting, so you can keep an eye on what your apps are doing behind the scenes and where your data might be going.
App Privacy Report can be enabled by opening up the Settings app, selecting the Privacy section, and choosing App Privacy Report. From there, you can toggle it on. After you start using apps, data will begin showing up in this spot. Apple shows seven days worth of data.
iOS 15.2 beta 2 adds Apple's Messages Communication Safety feature for kids, and there's a tweaked Notification Summary that gives summaries more of a card-style look.
There's also an update to Emergency SOS. The Auto Call feature can now be enabled by pressing on the side button rapidly or holding down the side button and the volume button together. Apple has added a longer eight second countdown (up from three seconds) to give you more time to cancel an accidental dial.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the first beta and a week and a half after the official release of macOS Monterey.
Registered developers can download macOS Monterey 12.1 beta profile through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, the beta will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences. Apple has also seeded a new beta of macOS Big Sur 11.6.2 for those who have not yet updated to Monterey or who can't on an older machine.
macOS Monterey 12.1 brings SharePlay to Macs for the first time. SharePlay is a new feature that's designed to let you watch TV, listen to music, and play games with friends and family members over FaceTime.
SharePlay allows all kinds of apps to work with FaceTime, with content synced for all people who are part of the FaceTime call. You can listen to music with Apple Music and access shared playlists, watch synced TV shows and movies together, work out together, and even share your screen for things like group trip planning or device troubleshooting.
Apple designed SharePlay to work with first-party app options like Apple TV, Apple Fitness+, and Apple Music, but there's also an API for developers so third-party apps can also use SharePlay FaceTime features for games and other experiences.
SharePlay is already available in the release versions of iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, and tvOS 15.1, so the Monterey 12.1 update brings Macs in line with other Apple devices.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.3 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the launch of the first beta and two weeks after the release of watchOS 8.1.
To install watchOS 8.3, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, watchOS 8.3 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.
To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.
No new features were found in the first beta of watchOS 8.3, so we don't yet know what's included in the update. It's also not clear why Apple has numbered this update 8.3 instead of 8.2. Should new features be discovered in the second beta, we'll update this article.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 15.2 update to developers, with the software coming a week after the first beta and two weeks after the release of tvOS 15.1, an update that introduced SharePlay support.
Developers can download the new tvOS 15.2 beta by downloading a profile onto the Apple TV using Xcode.
tvOS updates are often minor in scale, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than major outward-facing changes. There's no word yet on what's included in tvOS 15.2 update, but we'll update this article should anything new be found.
Though we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.
If you are planning to purchase an Apple device, accessory, or gift card for someone as a Christmas gift this year, Apple has shared the latest dates that these items can be ordered by with free shipping to ensure delivery prior to December 25 in the United States. Apple has also provided "order by" deadlines for products in select other countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the UK.
Apple's holiday shipping page provides "order by" deadlines for all iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, AirPods, AirTag, and HomePod mini models that it sells, as well as for physical Apple gift cards sent by mail. The dates will fluctuate over time, so ordering gifts as early as possible is always a good idea.
At the time this story was published, some of the deadlines were as follows:
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro: Order by December 22
iPhone 11: Order by December 15
Apple Watch Series 7: Order by December 22
Apple Watch SE: Order by December 22
12.9-inch iPad Pro: Order by December 22
11-inch iPad Pro: Order by December 8
iPad Air: Order by December 1
iPad mini: Order by November 16
14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro: Order by December 1
13-inch MacBook Pro: Order by December 17
MacBook Air: Order by December 17
24-inch iMac: Order by December 8
27-inch iMac: Order by December 22
Mac mini: Order by December 22
Apple TV 4K: Order by December 1
AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max: Order by December 22
HomePod mini: Order by December 22
AirTag: Order by December 8
Apple Gift Card sent by mail: Order by December 21
Delivery timing may vary for custom configurations of Macs, with some 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models already backordered into 2022, for example.
In addition to online ordering, in-store pickup is also an option at Apple Stores. In some U.S. metro areas, in-stock items at Apple Stores may also be available for two-hour courier delivery as late as December 24, according to Apple.
Twitter Blue, Twitter's subscription service, is today launching in the United States and New Zealand after launching in Canada earlier this year. Available for $2.99 per month in the U.S., Twitter Blue adds additional features to Twitter. Since Twitter Blue's June debut, Twitter has been introducing new functionality, and a rundown of what you get for that $2.99 subscription price is below.
Ad-free articles - Twitter Blue users can read ad-free content from sites that include The Washington Post, L.A. Times, USA TODAY, The Atlantic, Reuters, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, Insider and The Hollywood Reporter.
Top Articles - Subscribers have access to the most-shared articles on Twitter in the last 24 hours.
Customization - Twitter Blue users can access exclusive app icons and themes, and Twitter is adding Custom Navigation that will let users select what appears in their navigation bar.
Bookmarks Folder - Adds a way to organize saved tweets.
Undo Tweet - Twitter Blue users can preview tweets before they are sent, revising any mistakes. Users can set a customizable timer of up to 30 seconds to click "undo."
Early Access - Twitter is letting Twitter Blue users have early access to new features that are in development. Right now, users can upload videos up to 10 minutes in length, while non-subscribers are still limited to two minutes. They can also pin their favorite DM conversations to the top of the DM interface.
Twitter users can subscribe by visiting Twitter's main menu in the Twitter app for iOS or accessing Twitter on desktop and selecting the subscribe option.
Amid a heightened amount of scrutiny and tension surrounding the App Store and how users download and install apps on the iPhone, Apple CEO Tim Cook said today that customers who wish to sideload apps should consider purchasing an Android device as the experience offered by the iPhone maximizes their security and privacy.
Speaking at The New York Times "DealBook" summit, Cook said that customers currently already have a choice between wanting a secure and protected platform or an ecosystem that allows for sideloading. "I think that people have that choice today, Andrew. If you want to sideload, you can buy an Android phone." Cook drew the comparison of sideloading to a carmaker selling a car without airbags or seatbelt, saying it would be "too risky."
I think that people have that choice today, Andrew, if you want to sideload, you can buy an Android phone. That choice exists when you go into the carrier shop. If that is important to you, then you should buy an Android phone. From our point of view, it would be like if I were an automobile manufacturer telling [a customer] not to put airbags and seat belts in the car. He would never think about doing this in today's time. It's just too risky to do that. And so it would not be an iPhone if it didn't maximize security and privacy.
Sideloading, which would allow users to download and install apps directly onto their iPhone from the open internet, has become a hot topic in recent months, with Cook now weighing in. Earlier this week, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said that sideloading is a "cybercriminal's best friend," highlighting the dangers that may be presented to customers if offered the freedom to install apps from anywhere on the web.
In a paper published in October, Apple shared some facts about the security and privacy of the iPhone compared to the Android ecosystem. In the paper, Apple said that studies have shown that Android smartphones have been attacked by mobile malware between 15 and 47 times more than malware targeting the iPhone. "This is closely linked to sideloading," the paper added.
Speaking generally on privacy, Cook was questioned on recent reporting revealing that Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and others have lost almost $10 billion in revenue this year due to Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, which requires developers to ask for a user's consent before tracking them. Declining to comment on the specific numbers, Cook did repeat that Apple believes privacy is a fundamental human right.
I don't know about the estimates, Andrew, so I can't testify to those kind of numbers, but I think that from our point of view, privacy is a basic human right. And the people that ought to be deciding whether to data share is the person themselves. And so what we have been all about is putting the power with the user. We are not making the decision, we are just simply prompting them to be asked if they want to be tracked across apps or not. And of course, many of them are deciding no and never wanted to be, it's just that they did not have a choice before. And so I feel really good and I'm getting great feedback from users about having the choice.
Apple is in multiple investigations and battles around the world regarding the App Store, with the one most likely to produce drastic change being South Korea. Last month, the country passed new rules prohibiting platform owners from limiting developers to using only a single payment method for in-app purchases.
The App Store's in-app purchase method, which developers are required to use for digital purchases made within apps, gives Apple a 15-30% commission on all purchases made. Cook noted today that Apple has only ever lowered the commission, never increasing it. Nonetheless, the new law in South Korea would represent a significant turning point for the App Store if fully enacted. The App Store operates under a single global set of rules, and any change in one jurisdiction is applied globally for all developers.
Traditional mechanical keyboards have made a comeback in recent years. Generally known for being more hardy than today's more dominant membrane and scissor-switch keyboards, mechanical keys typically offer users faster, more satisfying feedback thanks to the highly detectable actuation and signature clicking sound.
However, mechanical keyboards are also often bigger, louder, and more tiring to type on, which is why their attraction has been limited to gamers and nostalgia-seekers. In an attempt to disrupt the market, however, US-based accessories maker Vissles set out to correct these disadvantages by offering the tactility and performance of a mechanical keyboard in a compact and less finger-fatiguing low-profile design.
Enter the LP85 Optical-Mechanical Keyboard, "crafted for speed, precision, and comfort." Except instead of mechanical switches, the LP85 uses optical switches, which break a beam of infrared light to activate the key press and are meant to reduce long-term wear. Can the technology faithfully recreate the feel and responsiveness offered by mechanical input? I spent a few weeks with the company's latest keyboard to find out.
Design and Features
The Mac version of the Vissles LP85 I received came nicely packaged in a black box containing a keyboard with black keys, and a gun-metal gray chassis that's closer in shade to the iMac Pro Magic Keyboard than a space gray MacBook Pro. Also included was a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, user manual, quick start guide with a map of key functions, and some Vissles stickers.
Upon handling the keyboard, the first thing I noticed about the LP85 is its heft. At 547 grams, it's over twice as heavy as Apple's Magic Keyboard (243 grams) and it's easy to see why. The extra weight is due to the chunky anodized chassis, a slab of aluminum that's 12mm high at its thickest point, which is almost equivalent to the raised level of the built-in keyboard on a 14-inch MacBook Pro. That makes it just 1mm higher than Apple's standalone Magic keyboard at the thicker end, and, combined with the weight, helps it feel extremely sturdy and stable, while two grippy silicone anti-slip strips underneath ensure it's going nowhere on your desk.
The chassis is nicely rounded at the corners and has an almost-flat two-degree angle that slopes down to 7.1mm at its thinnest section, which gives the 85 optical keys on the low-profile board a comfortable base to rest your wrists in front of. On the top edge of the chassis is a USB-C port for charging and wired connections, and a small round metal switch to swap between Bluetooth and wired. Between the two is an indicator light that displays the charge status of the built-in 2000mAh rechargeable battery with a red or green light.
Instead of using a membrane mechanism, Vissles has opted for X-Optical switches that deliver a light beam of 0.2ms, with a pre-travel actuation distance of 1.2mm, which is shorter than a regular mechanical keyboard, and 2.5mm total travel, which is similar to a membrane keyboard.
The Mac-style 85-key ANSI layout includes a top row of function keys with the expected macOS functions like Mission Control, LaunchPad, media, volume, and LED backlighting controls. It also fits in an additional Control key on the right of the spacebar and a column of home, end, and page up/down keys to the right of the Return key, which adds an extra inch to the layout compared to Apple's compact Magic Keyboard.
The keyboard supports Bluetooth pairing with up to three devices, and in terms of switching between them, device 1 is mapped to the Q key by default, while the second and third devices are mapped to W and E, respectively. There are also key combinations for backlight adjustment (more on that later).
Performance
I had no trouble pairing the keyboard with my 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and iPhone 13, and I didn't experience any dropouts when testing the keyboard within a reasonable range of these devices. Initial pairing to the first device involved a long press of the Fn and P keys for five seconds, after which macOS discovered the Bluetooth connection. Pressing Fn and W/E and then Fn and P pairs a second/third device. Switching between them was fast, ensuring responsiveness to initial keyboard input was almost immediate.
Despite being an 85-key layout, the individual keys are well spaced apart in a manner almost identical to a native Apple keyboard, which makes the keys under your fingers the ones you'd expect to find there, ensuring speed and accuracy of typing isn't an issue.
This performance is consolidated by the X-Optical mechanical switches, which, thanks to their unique pre-travel distance, feel highly responsive and emit a beautifully crisp clicky sound that's similar to Gateron blue switches but not as loud.
As a result, each key provides reassuring tactile feedback rather than the more muted spongy feel of typical low-profile keyboards. Typing on the LP85 is basically like using a much more durable and ergonomic version of a regular mechanical keyboard. Even after several hours of use, my fingers felt no more tired than usual, which is testament to Vissels' decision to use premium optical switches.
I also found the LP85's backlighting modes easy to use. The legend on each keycap is transparent so that the LED light shines through, making the keyboard great for typing in darker environments, and there's no potentially distracting light bleed around the keys like on some other backlit keyboards.
Pressing the Fn and Delete keys together cycles through 19 vibrant-looking dynamic backlighting effects, which really have to be seen to be fully appreciated. I had a lot of fun using the Fn+arrow keys to try out the various animated rainbow-color combinations, eight color monochrome modes, and adjustable directional "lightning" effects.
If the backlighting is too glaring you can dial down the intensity by choosing from three levels of brightness, or simply switch off the backlight altogether. To save battery, the light sleeps if you don't use the keyboard for five minutes, but they snap back on just as quickly with a tap. After 30 minutes of inactivity, the keyboard goes into hibernation mode.
The only problem I had with the LP85 during use was that it would occasionally fail to register a keystroke, but this turned out to be Bluetooth interference from a wireless TeckNet mouse. Removing the mouse solved the issue, but it's something to consider if you have lots of Bluetooth devices in your setup.
Wrap Up and How to Buy
Vissels' LP85 Optical-Mechanical keyboard is a unique wireless input device in its own right, thanks to the optical switches that Vissles has chosen to use, which have allowed it to successfully achieve the feel of mechanical input in the kind of low-profile design that's usually associated with a membrane keyboard.
For that reason alone, the LP85 is recommended for anyone looking for a compact key layout that's responsive, highly tactile, and very well built. Costing $99, it's a fine alternative to Apple's similarly priced Magic Keyboard, but with the variety of colorful backlit RGB modes available, it's decidedly more fun.
The LP85 keyboard is available in black or white. Pre-orders can be placed on the Vissels LP85 Optical-Mechanical Keyboard Kickstarter page, with shipping scheduled for late January 2022.
Note: Vissles supplied the keyboard to MacRumors for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received.
Two weeks after Apple's redesigned MacBook Pro models launched, some configurations of the notebooks remain in tight supply.
While standard configurations of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models ordered through Apple's online store are estimated for delivery in the first week of December, many custom configurations are shipping in late December, and some are even backordered into 2022. In the United States, for example, a 14-inch MacBook Pro configured with an M1 Max chip, 64GB of unified memory, and a 512GB SSD is estimated for delivery by January 3.
In-store availability is also scarce at the moment, with many MacBook Pro configurations unavailable for Apple Store pickup around the world.
There are likely several factors behind the lengthy shipping delays, including strong demand for the new MacBook Pro models, an industry-wide chip shortage, and pandemic-related manufacturing disruptions. On an earnings call last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said supply constraints had an estimated $6 billion impact on Apple's revenue last quarter, and he said he expected the supply constraints to continue through the holiday season.
Key features of the new MacBook Pro models include Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, mini-LED displays with ProMotion for up to a 120Hz refresh rate, longer battery life, and the return of ports like an SD card slot, HDMI, and MagSafe. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the 14-inch model and at $2,499 for the 16-inch model in the United States.
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